Re: PDP-11 OS Release Dates

From: Don Chiasson (don_chiasson_at_notmail.com)
Date: 08/07/03 

Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2003 13:58:42 GMT

"Mikael Cardell" <mc@hack.org> wrote in message
news:868yq5zomw.fsf@fuckup.hack.org...
> jmfbahciv@aol.com writes:
>
> > Everybody has to learn about I/O and memory management. What might
> > work stand-alone with one flavor of program, will not work for
> > others. If they had learned the do's and don'ts of I/O which was
> > in every program on the -10, the lore would have carried over to
> > DOS and Windows.
>
> I understand now. I agree completely that every programmer has to
> learn these things.
>
> However, I don't think Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the original authors
> of MS/Altair BASIC, had much to do with the programming of MS DOS or
> MS Windows. I would be very surprised if Gates had even looked at the
> code of any part of, say, MS Windows.

They bought QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) from a little
company in Seattle for $50k. How much they changed it, I don't know.
QDOS was based on Digital Research's CP/M (Control Program /
Microcomputer ?). There is some discussion as to how literally QDOS was
based on CP/M. Some initial bad decisions from QDOS - or CP/M - (e.g.
limits on file name length, a couple of pieces of non-reentrant code,
no superuser mode - therefore no security) resulted in a great many
painful hacks in MS operating systems.

By the time Windows really came into existence, I suspect Gates was too
busy managing the company to do any coding.

> My guess is that Bill was mainly a manager type and Paul was out
> playing venture capitalist, sponsoring basketball teams and playing
> with his home hacking stuff. I really doubt anyone of them had
> anything to do with programming Microsoft products after the BASIC for
> Altair.

Paul Allen had serious health problems that caused him to withdraw from
working closely with the company.

---Don
e-mail: it's not not, it's hot.